Tuesday, July 12, 2016

S.H.I.E.L.D. and Sacrifice!

My wife and I just finished binge-watching the third season
of Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD, which turned out to be their best and most
biblical season thus far. The whole season built toward the sacrificial death
of one of SHIELD’s agents. Earlier in the season, Agent Daisy Johnson received
a premonition thanks to an Inhuman with the ability to reveal the future. In
her vision, Daisy sees a SHIELD agent die. Although she can’t see which agent
it is, she can see a necklace with a gold cross in the agent’s hand.

As it turns out, the necklace and cross belong to Elena
Rodriguez, a new recruit with super-speed who believes that her abilities are a
gift from God and must be used in service of others. However, as the season
progresses the cross repeatedly changes hands. Elena first gives the cross to Mack,
the team’s musclebound engineer, reminding him, “This isn’t some lucky rabbit’s
foot. It’s a symbol of faith.” Through a series of events the cross then passes
to Agent Fitz, and then to Daisy herself. Finally, it ends up in the hands of
Daisy’s love interest and fellow agent, Lincoln Campbell.

In the season finale, SHIELD faces an evil Inhuman named
Hive bent on world domination and in possession of a nuclear warhead. In an act
of self-sacrifice, Lincoln takes the cross from Daisy (aware of her earlier vision),
then traps himself and Hive in a Quinjet carrying the nuclear warhead. With
only moments before detonation, Lincoln rockets himself, Hive, and the warhead
out into space.

Over the com-link, Daisy pleads with Lincoln, “What are you
doing? This is crazy.” Lincoln replies, “This is my purpose, I know that now.”
With tears streaming down her face, Daisy cries, “You can’t just die for me like
this, it’s wrong.” Lincoln answers, “Saving the girl I love and the world at
the same time… it feels pretty right to me.” When the communication signal fades,
Daisy turns to Director Coulson, and cries, “He’s paying for my mistakes.”
Coulson corrects her, “No. he’s paying for all our mistakes.” Aboard the Quinjet,
Hive questions Lincoln, “[You’d] sacrifice for them with all their flaws?” Just
before the warhead explodes in a blaze of light, Lincoln looks once more at the
cross in his hand and replies, “They’re only human.”

Rarely will you see a better Christ-figure in television. What
Lincoln did for the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Jesus did for you and me. The
circumstances were different, but the result was the same. Your sin and mine
have condemned us to eternal death. But despite all our flaws, Jesus willing
sacrificed himself for our mistakes. Like Lincoln, Jesus chose the cross then
carried it knowing full well where it would lead him.

We’ll have to wait until next season to find out how Daisy,
Coulson and the rest of the team respond to Lincoln’s sacrifice. But the
question now is—how will we respond to Christ’s sacrifice?